Improving Physical Fitness Prior to Colorectal Surgery: A Pilot Study

Participants will be randomised into one of two groups. One group of participants will be asked to increase their level of activity by gradually walking further (the exercise group) and the other group will carry on with their usual level of activity (the usual activity group) .

Assessments People in both groups will have an assessment on 3 occasions: when they join the study, just before surgery and 3 months after surgery.

This assessment involves:

Walking for 6 minutes up and down a corridor to see how far they can walk. Asking them for some information about their medical history Completing three questionnaires about how they are feeling and their quality of life.

People who are randomised to the exercise group will be advised about how many steps to take based on how they did in the initial walking assessment. The number of days or weeks they will be asked to take a daily walk will depend on how much time there is between them joining the study and the date of their surgery. We think this will be about 2 weeks.

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18 years or older
• Requiring elective resectional bowel surgery
• Gives consent to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

• Younger than 18 years of age.
• A history of unstable angina/unstable coronary artery disease or a heart attack in the previous month.
• Any heart related disease including but not limited to aortic stenosis, pericarditis or any thromboembolic disease.
• Severe Infections and fever.
• Uncontrolled metabolic diseases.
• Resting heart rate of more than 120 BPM.
• Systolic blood pressure of more than 180 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure of more than 110 mm Hg.
• Recent cerebrovascular accident.
• Pregnancy
• Pre-existing severe physical disability.
• Unwilling to allow their GP to be informed of their participation in the study.
• Not able or unwilling to consent to take part in the study